By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

West Central District No. 6 seed Kennedy Catholic rose up to knock off Eastern Washington No. 1 seed Shadle Park, 40-32, in state Class 3A regional action at the University High School of Spokane gymnasium Saturday.

The Lancers now advance to play in the state final eight tournament in the Tacoma Dome, opening the action with a 9 a.m. game against Bellevue this Thursday.

The tournament will continue Friday and conclude with final placement games Saturday.

Keannu Royster paced the Kennedy squad with 12 points this past Saturday and Emilio Mancol tossed in 10.

Mancol -- a 5-foot, 9-inch junior guard, led the Lancers in scoring for the season up until that game with a 19.2 points per game average.

Royster is also a 5-9 junior guard for Kennedy and he was next with a 10.2 scoring average.

Trevor Hoffman is a 6-3 junior wing who averaged 8.8 points, while 6-4 senior forward James Jolly averaged 7.6 points and 6-1 junior guard Matthew Sasonoff averaged 7.4.

Jarad Thurber is a 6-3 junior wing who averaged 6.5 points and 6-0 sophomore guard Simon Harris averaged 4.6.

Rounding out the roster are 5-10 sophomore guard Daeshaun Wilson (2.5), 6-4 sophomore post Matthew Macias (2.0), 6-0 senior guard Andrew Ellingson (1.5), 6-4 senior post Grant Gardner (1.0) and 6-0 sophomore guard Anders Hunt (0.0).

The team is coached by Don Hoffman and his assistants are Jeff Huling, An Lieu and Don Moore.

Kennedy has a 19-6 overall record while the Shadle Park Hilanders finished their season at 16-7.